awesome_lilly | (no subject)

And here Mal is, also in full browncoat regalia. He could also be toting one more gun than normal. He spots Lilly and waves uncharacteristically happy-like.

Lilly waves back, grinning.

"What up, Captain mu ji?"

"Well," Mal starts, displaying the gun he had been holding in his left hand, "I got a present for ya."

"Oooh, shiny," Lilly says, beaming. "Just what I wanted, too. How ever did you guess, Mal?"

"Had a hunch." One can tell that this gun isn't used a lot by Captain Reynolds. It's way too clean, way too...modern. First off, it uses a magazine instead of sticking to the revolver style which Mal so loves. He places the gun in Lilly's right hand, letting her feel the weight of it.

Lilly turns the gun over in her hand, looking intently at it.

"Not bad, Mal. It's a bit heavy, but I think I could get used to it."

Mal converts immediately into teachermode, starting, "I gave you metal that I knew would feel heavy to you, cuz you never want to forget that you got it on you. To be aware of your piece makes you 100 percent aware all the time that you might have to use it."

Lilly forces herself not to make the remark that immediately springs to mind, and instead just nods.

"Got it, Mal. I think I'm going to be pretty aware as it is, but yeah."

Mal takes the time to explain very clearly to Lilly where everything is on the gun - the safety, the hammer, etc. The gun looked awkward in Lilly's hand in Mal's eyes, but he knew this is what she needed.

"Any questions, or are you ready to try and shoot now?"

"I'm ready, Captain," Lilly replies. "What am I shooting at?"

Mal guides Lilly to aim for the empty tin cans that he had had placed about thirty yards away.

Mal moves around to behind Lilly's back and shooting arm, making sure she is not locking her arm.

"Now relax...and squeeze."

Telling Lilly to relax is generally redundant, but this time it has some effect. She looks at the tin cans and thinks, suddenly, of water pistol fights during long Southern California summers. It makes her smile.
I aim with my heart
Still smiling, she lifts the gun and squeezes the trigger.

Damn.

Mal walks away from Lilly to find the tin can that has disappeared since Lilly fired her first shot into it. The tin can finally comes into Mal's view, as it had rolled behind its neighbor to the right, following the gentle slope of the grassy area.

The logo of the can had a hole clear through it.

"Ok, so...beginner's luck."

"That and a misspent youth," Lilly agrees. "I used to hang out in arcades and they're big on the shooting games."

She grins.

"I have to say, this is way more fun than Duck Hunt."

"You're right," Mal grins. "Huntin' birds is awful. 'Less you get 'em just right, the bullet explodes an' ain't nothin' left to eat cuz the meat's tainted with the spent stuff from it's organs, and..."

...

"Yeah - do that again."

Lilly makes a mental note to introduce Mal to the joys of Nintendo and then turns her attention back to the cans. It's easier if she doesn't overthink it, just relaxes and lifts the gun and squeezes.

Mal watches the cans go down one...by one...by one. Until all ten have disappeared. Normal speed, normal stance, normal everything.

Except a very good shooting eye.

"Feel okay with things?"

Lilly looks down at the cans and the gun and then smiles at Mal.

"I feel pretty good about this now, actually. I mean, I'm not very fast but I think I can pull off looking like I know what I'm doing."

"And the best part is you most like won't have to pull it at all."

"I think we're done with the gun now. If you want, you can keep hold of it 'til you go and do the thing. Are we up for Chinese, or are you good there too?"

"I've been practicing, Captain mu ji," Lilly says with a smile. "But I could probably use some more, if you've got time."

"Ok then." Mal takes off his jacket, sitting it on the ground next to him as he plops down, waiting for Lilly to ask The Great Mal a question.

Lilly holsters her gun and sits next to him.

"I want to make sure I have this right: tāmāde is basically fuck, tāmāde húndàn is fucking bastard, and qù tāmāde is like fuck him or fuck that?"

Mal quite possibly sporfles. Manly sporfling. Yep.

"You might be ready I'm thinkin'. Yup." -insert more sporfling here-

Lilly laughs happily.

"Thanks, Mal. I'm glad I have rogue spaceship captain approval."

"Can I get a rubber stamp with that on it or somethin'?" Mal asks, mostly to himself. "Might come in handy."

Lilly makes another mental note, this one about what to get Mal if a gift-giving occasion comes up any time soon. And that makes her think...

"Hey Mal? When's your birthday?"

"August 30," Mal responds, leaving off the ordinal number suffix, military style.

"Why?"

Lilly smiles.

"No reason. Just curious."

I need to stop opening my mouth.

"Good to know, Miss Lilly."